Shouting Down a Well: Why You Must Choose Post Times Wisely

Timing is everything, and choosing when to hit send on social media is no exception.

Think your content is so wonderfully awesome its mere digital presence will reverberate through the Twittersphere for days on end, even though you sent it out at 4am? Think again.

According to SocialMediaScience.com, getting the best results depends as much on when you post it as the sparkling content. Send your tweet or your Facebook update out at the wrong time and you might as well be shouting down a well.

Just as LinkedIn is different from Pinterest (and Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), so, too, are the best times for posting among social media channels — no one-time-fits-all approach here. Finding that sweet sending spot is an important part of any effective social media strategy. Just remember to take the following times as guidelines and tweak to fit the quirks of your business or industry.

Yes, we all Facebook at work and at home, on desktops and on phones. So it’s no surprise the best time to post is the middle of a workday, around 3 p.m. on Wednesday during the doldrums of the work week, followed by noon to 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. You’ll also get eyeballs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, which have 18 percent higher engagement rates, according to research. Want your post to go unread? Try weekends before 8 a.m. and after 8 p.m.

Twitter is often used in the same session as Facebook (check one, then the other), though it’s also used as an RSS feed for reading on breaks and commutes. For B2B content, tweet on weekdays between noon and 3 p.m., which garners 16 percent higher clickthrough rates (with a spike 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays). B2C content does 17 percent better in click-through rates when posted on weekends, with a bump on Wednesdays as well.

LinkedIn is all business (no party pics here), which makes it the most safe for work (SFW) of all the channels. It’s also the go-to site for job leads, which is probably why the best times to post are Tuesday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., followed by 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and over lunchtime. If you’re looking for the most clicks and shares, try Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and avoid posting between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Instagram is a mobile platform with users accessing the network pretty much at all times, though more during off-work hours. So besides a slow period from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, post away. And for video content, shoot for after 9 p.m. and before 8 a.m. on any night.

If Martha Stewart was a social media site, she’d be Pinterest. And just like perusing the pages of her magazine, the best times to post on Pinterest are evenings after 6 p.m. any day of the week, but especially 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday. Friday afternoons are especially popular, while the insomniac hours of 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. on any day also see activity.

Author John Anderson

John Anderson is a six-year veteran of Miami New Times where he wrote front-page features and covered Miami’s arts and culture scene.
His freelance work includes news coverage for Agence France-Presse, business news and features Silicon Valley Business Journal, technology coverage for the Economist Intelligence Unit, and lifestyle articles for the Orange County Register, San Francisco Examiner and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. "